Tuesday, December 30, 2008

by these presents alaric and nerissa king and queen of drachenwald offer to barekr bjorgeirsson entrance into our order of the Lindquistringes in recognition of the service that he has rendered to us and ours done the 13th day of october, a.s. 42, in the shire of flintheath.

I transliterated this text into the Danish runes from ca. 900 AD at http://www.arild-hauge.com/edruner.htm. It's not a direct, letter to letter, transliteration, since this futhark has only 16 characters. However, if someone sat down with the image and the website, I think it should be possible to figure out from that alone what the original text was.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

The name has been removed because on the day of the event that this was going to be given out at, it was realized that the recipient's name I'd been given was in fact getting a Lindquistringes, and someone else was getting an AoA, so the original recipient's name was going to be scraped out and the new recipient's name written in. Unfortunately, I never found out who the new recipient was!

This was not the best scan ever, as it doesn't quite represent the true colors of the original; the red is more pink and the orange less carrot-y in real life. This was my first time seriously attempting mixing colors, and what fun it was to see the results!

The text reads:

From the king and queen right trusty and well-beloved to our dear subjects, greetings. We, not only by common report, but also by our own knowledge and the testimony of many credible and noble persons, are verily ascertained that XXXX has long continued in virtue and in all his deeds hath honourably governed himself, so that it is right that he be numbered and counted among the company of all gentle and noble men of this realm. And for the remembrance of this we ordain unto the said XXX the right to bear such arms as he shall register with the College of Arms, without let or hindrance from any one. In witness whereof we, Thorvald king and Fiona queen, have signed these presents with our own hands on the iii day of January in the year of the society xliii in our Shire of Aventiure.

The drawings are based on one from the Snorra Edda (to acknowledge the Norse lineage of the King):

This is an image illustrating how King Gylfi of Sweden travelled to Asgard to seek the knowledge of the gods. It's from MS Delagarde 11, 14th C, on p. 24 of Jónas Kristjánsson, Handritaspegill, (Hið íslenska bókmenntafélag 1993).

The hand is an attempt at gothic littera bastarda. It passes the "arm's length" test, but that's about it.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

The hand is my attempt at the gothic littera bastarda in Drogin, Medieval calligraphy: its history and technique. I keep thinking I must not have the right nib, because I've tried this hand many times and it never turns out how I want to to. This is probably the best I've done so far, but it's still a pretty poor imitation.

The design is modified from a manuscript which was pictured on the front cover of an advertisement for a conference on Johannes Duns Scotus:

I don't have any further information about the manuscripts, except that it is probably a MS of one of Scotus's works, since he's pictured, and therefore it's also probably mid-14th C or later.

Unfortunately, when I was given the assignment, I was given the wrong spelling of the recipient's name.

Let every noble lady and lord know that we, Marcus and Anna, King and Queen of Drachenwald, with this letter recognize our subject Mickel Biörnsson till Wargegården, as his good deeds have come to our knowledge not only by rumour but also by the testimony of many good man and woman, in whom we put great trust. We hereby elevate him to noble rank and give him the right to carry the arms azure, two arrows inverted in saltire Or barbed and on a chief embattled argent three wolf's paw prints azure. To this we put our names this eighth day of November, a.s. 38.

This was definitely at the very edge of my ability in terms of copying the design, modifying it to fit my space and layout, and to get the (very minor!) shading. The scroll was done over the course of Nov. 20, 22, 23, and Dec. 7.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The initials and the hand are adapted from Codex Gottwicensis 556 (447) (go to http://www.hmml.org/Vivarium/hmml_collections.htm and do a keyword search for this). The illuminated capitals fascinated me both since they are sans serif and because the strokes are almost all the same width (and I'd been told that mono-stroke-width, sans serif fonts were not period!). The Codex is from the 15th century. The scroll was done Nov. 15 and 16.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

The text reads: To alle trewe people these present tres reding or hering Thorvaldr and Fiona King and Queen of this realme of Drachenwald send due greting. Equite and reason ordeyneth that men vertuouse and of noble courage be rewarded, and not only in theire persones in this mortall liffe so breef but also in theire good name to be of noble memory after theire departing out of liffe to be in euery place of honour before other persones reuerenced for shewing of certaine signes of honour that by theire ensample other persones may the sonner applye theyme theymeself to dispend theire lyves in honourable worke and vertuous dede for to gete therby the renome of gentilnesse in theire ligne for euermore. And therfore We the said King and Queen not only by comon Renome but also by our owne knowlache and the report of manny other credeble and noble persones are vervily ascertayned that Nicholas de Estleche dit le Tardif of the shire of Flintheath hath long contynued in vertu and in alle his Actes hath weel honourably gouerned hymself so that it is right worthy he and his posterite to be in alle places admitted nombred and receyued in the company of other auncion gentill and noble men perpetually frome hensforth. And for remembrannce of the same our auctorite and power We the said King and Queen have ordeigned unto and for the same Nicholas de Estleche for hym and his posterite the armys herafter folowying. That is to say he bereth per chevron sable and vrgent below a tower silver a garb or, as more playnly it appeareth in the mergen depicte. In wittenesse wherof We the said King and Queen haue signed these with our owne handes and sealed the same with our seall of auctorite at Hoxley by Thamesreach the xxviii Day of June being the i day of the i yere of Our Regne. It is based on the 1482 grant of arms to thomas Northland, number 13 at http://verysleepy.itgo.com/grants.htm.

The tree is based loosely on one in the London Guildhall Library MS 1756, dating from 1510(?). I say loosely because the picture I took zoomed in on the arms hanging from the branch, and omited most of the tree, so I don't know how the crown of the tree actually worked.

It was very frustrating to discover after having done all of the calligraphy, all of the tree, and half of the shield that I had miswritten the blazon. Since I've never tried scraping ink of perg and rewriting over it (and I'm very leery of doing so), I figured this correction was the path of least resistance, and hence the one where I was most likely to come up with a correction that itself didn't involve further grief and frustration.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

(The reason it looks skewed is that it wasn't square in the scanner; it really is square in real life!)

The text reads in translation Thorvald and Fiona, King and Queen of Drachenwald, to Caitriona of the Ravens, salutations. In recognition of the works that you have rendered to us, we hereby offer to you admission in our order of the ring of Lindquist, which confers the right to display the insignia of the order, a ring made of a golden dragon without wings having a red jewel. Dated by West Dragoningshire, 8th of the calendar of November, a.s. 43.

This is roughly the same translation used for the Lindquistringes for Maredudd ap Gwilym I did a month earlier. The recipient's name, Caitriona of the Ravens, naturally translates to Caterina Corvorum in Latin, though grammatically, Caterina should have bee in the dative case, which it was not (my requisite one mistake per scroll, *sigh*).

The hand is my attempt at the artificial uncial in Drogin, Medieval calligraphy: its history and technique. The design is, I have to admit, completely made up. (I'm just happy I was able to get ravens that look (sort of) like ravens!).

The text reads To all those who shall see or hear these present letters Thorvaldr and Fiona King and Queen of Drachenwald greeting and recommendation. Equity requires and reason ordains that men virtuous and of good skill and knowledge be rewarded for their merits by renown and recognition. And therefore We who not only by common renown but also by the report and testimony of other noble men worthy of credence are truly advertised and informed that Thomas Flamanc de Kelsale has long persued feats of food and as well in this as in other of his affairs has borne himself valiantly and conducted himself honourably so that he deserved well and is well worth that henceforth he may be in all places honourably admitted renowned counted number and received among the number and in the company of Our Order of the Panache. And for the remembrance of this we assign to the said Thomas the right to bear the blazon in the manner which follows. That is to say a torteau charged with a bezant pierced sable issuant from the chief three feathers gules, Or, and sable. In witness whereof We King and Queen of Drachenwald above named have signed our hands and sealed with our seal and given the eighth day of November in the year of the society fourty-three.. It is based on the 1459/60 grant of arms to John Alfrey, number 4 at http://verysleepy.itgo.com/grants.htm.

The illumination is based on two manuscripts in the London Guildhall library. The T is based on the one in the grant of arms to the Worshipful Company of Coopers of London, granted 1509, Guildhall Library MS 5806. The yellow border with vegetation is from the Skinners' Fraternity of Assumption, begun in the 1440s and finished in the 17th C, Guildhall Library MS 31692. The scroll was completed on 27, 28 Sept. and 11, 12 Oct.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

On Friday, September 5, 2008, I got to visit the College of Arms, in London, quite possibly one of the best experiences of my life. Our group of around 40 people was taken care of by Somerset Herald and Bluemantle Pursuivant, who were wonderful hosts. So I made a thank-you card for each of them:

For Bluemantle

For Somerset

Based on MS5086, Guildhall Library, London

Loosely based on Codex Admontensis 2,St John's University & College of St Benedict

Monday, September 1, 2008

End of August/beginning of September 2008

The text reads in translation Thorvald and Fiona, King and Queen of Drachenwald, to Maredudd son of William, salutations, goodwill, and blessing. In recognition of the works that you have rendered to us, we hereby offer to you admission in our order of the ring of Lindquist, which confers the right to display the insignia of the order, a ring made of a golden dragon without wings having a red jewel. Dated by Mynydd Gwyn, 13 of the calendar of September, in the year of the society 43.

Some notes on the translation: The wording of both the salutation and the conclusion comes from various texts found in the register of John Pecham, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1279-1292. The recipient's registered name is Maredudd ap Gwilym 'Maredudd son of William' in Welsh. It's likely that the connection between Gwilym and William would've been known even to a non-Welsh scribe, and William was standardly Latinized as Willelmus or Willielmus. Concerning how to Latinize Maredudd, Morgan & Morgan, Welsh Surnames s.n. Maredudd had some useful advice:

"The name is frequently disguised in the records written by non-Welsh scribes and takes the form Mereduc. There was another name, Moreiddig...Confusion of these two names might be part of the reason, but the general use of 'Mereduc' owes more to its suitability for taking Latin case-endings."

And they give an example of Mereduco filio Griffini from Edward I.

The order referenced in the text is Drachenwald's service order, Orden des Lindquistringes, whose registered badge is "(Fieldless) A ring formed of a wingless dragon in annulo widdershins Or, maintaining in chief with all four legs and mouth a gem gules." As you can see, much of the details of the blazon were left out in the Latin version; I figured with an image of the insignia on the scroll itself, this would be ok.

I based the hand on the one used in the Black Book of Carmarthen (currently located in the National Library of Wales); it was composed around 1250. The manuscript was written in Welsh, rather than Latin as my scroll was, so the overall visual effect of the two pieces is rather different; Welsh has a lot more ys and ws than Latin.

Close-up of the letter. The illuminated letter was based (loosely) on some exemplars in the De Grey Hours (also in the National Library of Wales); it's from the mid-15th century, so it's temporal inconsistent with the rest of the piece, but I didn't really see anything from the 13th century that I would actually be able to do. The gold outline, the shape and color of the letter, and the whitework are based primarily on this letter. The inner whitework design was completely made up.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The text reads in translation Pay heed to the words of Sven and Jovi, King and Queen of Drachenwald. Know that by these letters we recognize the worth and dignity of our subject Simona di Piero Valentini. We raise her to the rank of lady and grant to her all rights to the arms Per pale azure and gules, a hanging balance argent. Done by our hands on the 11th day of April, in the year of the society XLII.

The design is based on various pages from the Visconti Hours. The gold bars and the outer floral design comes from BR 115; the border around the text is from LF18; and the framework for the arms from LF 40v. I also took the capitals from some place in the Hours, I just don't remember where at this point. The background for the arms was supposed to be diagonal rows of blue and red, not vertical, but I didn't remember that I wanted to do this until I had all the blue and a quarter of the red painted. So now I just tell myself I planned it this way, to mimic the field of the arms. The scroll was done over a number of days in July and August 2008.

Monday, June 9, 2008

May 31 - June 9, 2008

This is a laurel scroll for Ursula Georges, from An Tir. Click on the image to get more pictures, and click here to see the scrolls with the signatures and seals added.

Texts

The text of the induction letter was prepared by Ursula, based on the statues of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a letter informing the recipient that he has been granted entry into the Company of the Star, and the statutes of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Cedric and Elizabeth, King and Queen of An Tir, to our friend and faithful subject Ursula Georges. Greetings. In exaltation of the Society and increase of honour, it was ordained to create a Company, which is called the Order of the Laurel. And the companions wear the badge of a gold laurel wreath.

And all the companions of this order will be held and will swear at their entrance that they will give a good example of Courtesy and Chivalry.

And they will promise to have good and true love to the Sovereigns and to defend and maintain the laws of the kingdom and the statutes of the Society.

And they will promise to serve the Sovereigns to their power.

And they will promise to enrich the kingdom by honorable deeds and good works and wise counsels.

And they will promise that they will give loyal counsel to the Sovereigns and advise them in naming new companions of the order.

And we have chosen you to be of the number of said Company, and we intend to do so at June Faire. Be there at said day and place, if you are well able, in your habit.

Given the 16 day of March in the year of the Society 42.

The text of the confirmation of arms is based on the grant of arms to John Aleyn, 1454, at http://verysleepy.itgo.com/grants.htm. The translation into French was provided by Gausbert Barboiron.

To all good people this present text seeing or hearing humble recommendation by me Black Lion Principal Herald of Arms of An Tir.

It is so that many persons of noble and gentle birth to exercise virtuous conditions by which they shall come to the perfection of great honor. Of which persons one in especial whose name is Ursula Georges of the College of Saint Bunstable in the Barony of Madrone tenderly praying and requiring me the said Black Lion Principal Herald of Arms to search for the arms of the said Ursula.

Where upon I the said Black Lion Principal Herald of Arms at the instance and request of the said Ursula have made herein due search and found the right arms of the said Ursula that is to say gules a bear passant sable.

Which arms I the said Black Lion Principal Herald of Arms confirm unto the said Ursula and witness here that no person within the Society ought for to bear them but the said Ursula and the heirs of her body lawfully begaten.

In witness whereof to this I have set my seal of arms and my sign manual the xxxith day of May in the reign of king Cedric and queen Elizabeth.

Black Lion Principal Herald of Arms.

Layout

The narrow gold double border on both scrolls is taken from the 16th C Dutch Livre du toison d'or, specifically the digitized version available at http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00001351/images/. The layout of the achievement in the confirmation scroll is also based on the images in this book. See, e.g., page 18 and page 23.

Calligraphy

The calligraphy was based, to the best of my ability, on the script found in the Livre du toison d'or. Examples of the sweeping capitals and the use of red to set various text off can be seen in page 22, page 27, page 39, page 41, etc.

Coat of arms

As noted above, the layout of the achievement was taken from the Livre, but the elements themselves were taken from Scheibler'sches Wappenbuch, a southern German MS from between 1450 and 17th C; a digitized version is available at http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00007174/images/. The bear crest and the mantling is found on page 211, and the bear passant on page 280.

I am very good at tracing ready-made images but very bad at coming up with them on my own. I was unable to alter the mantling found above to go around a vertical, rather than a tilted, shield, and also could not adjust the helm properly. So I enlisted the help of my mom, Carolyn Friedemann, who took the above elements and gave me something to trace:

This I was able to trace onto the parchment, given the transparency of the skin.

Materials

The scrolls were both done on J. Herbin parchment measuring 19x24cm. (Unfortunately I do not know what type of parchment this is.)

The outline and detail work were done with a Rotring Isograph pen with 0.18mm nib. The lettering was done in Ecoline ink, sepia and carmine (I wanted vermillion, but when I went to the store they were out and only had carmine). The gold borders were done with Ecoline gold, first done with a calligraphy nib until I realized that a paintbrush worked much easier.

The gold details on the achievement were also done with Ecoline, and the paint used was Talens guache, vermillion and black intenso.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

My very first scroll that I calligraphed and illuminated myself. The hand is gothic textura quadrata, the floral border is based on Walter Arts GAllery MS 185, fol 14v, Dutch 1420-1430, and the inner border on Hessische Landes- und Hochschulbiliothek Darmstadt MS 2296, Dutch ca. 1400. It's an AoA for someone whose persona is Dutch and who is Dutch in real life.

The text reads in translation Pay heed to the words of Alaric and Nerissa, King and Queen of Drachenwald. Know that by these letters we recognize the worth and dignity of our subject Annemieke. We raise her to the rank of lady and grant to her all rights to such arms as she shall register with the college of arms. Done by our hands on the third day of November, in the year of the society XLII.